The Jabberwocky
by Grey Foxes
Summary: Ritka Anderson has a bad car, horrible luck, and a terrible job.
1. Chapter 1

_CHAPTER ONE_

 _Our Father who art in heaven_

 _Hallowed be thy name_

 _Thy Kingdom come_

 _Thy will be done_

 _On earth as it is in heaven_

 _Give us this day our daily bread_

 _And forgive us our trespasses_

 _As we forgive those who trespass against us._

 _And lead us not into temptation._

 _But deliver us from evil._

 _For thine is the kingdom,_

 _The power and the glory_

 _For ever and ever._

 _Amen_

 _-The Lord's Prayer_

 **November 7th, 2005**

 **Tucson, Arizona**

Tucson, Arizona was a dusty city in the fall, and Ritka Anderson was down to a flannel overshirt and a tank top from the dry heat. Her iced coffee was her only solace, and the smug victory she was oozing was what kept her outside. The streets were empty, and a bored cashier inside the Starbucks was humming something under her breath, the tune unfamiliar.

The chupacabra had been a bitch and a half to take down. She'd thought she was dealing with a vampire at first, but people weren't going _missing_ , they were sucked dry in their beds. Considering the region, she branched out into the Aztec myths, only to be confronted with the fucker the next night. To southern-based hunters they were little more than pests, but once they got a taste for human blood, they got _mean_. It lunged, Ritka got her arm up just in time, and shot the little bitch while it chomped down. She salt 'n' burned the corpse, and dumped holy water on the bite before disinfecting it and bandaging it.

Ritka rather thought she'd deserved the coffee.

The heat ratcheted up as it approached noon, and Ritka wished she could take off the flannel without getting weird looks from her bandaged arm and the scars. Though, if it got any hotter, she'd take it off anyway. It was that, or hosing herself down.

She snickered at the thought, taking a long swallow of her coffee when her phone started to buzz. She choked on the beverage when she saw the caller ID.

She spat the coffee back into the cup and answered the phone with a cautious "Anderson."

"Hey Ritka." Dean Winchester said. He sounded awkward. "Uh, how've you been?"

 _Fanfuckingtastic you son-of-a-bitch._ Ritka already regretted picking up the phone. "Fine." Ritka said, instead of a stream of expletives, a death threat and tossing the phone into a lake. "What do you _want_ , Dean?"

"I don't even get a hello?" Dean asks, "Ritika, my dad- he's missing."

"Lemme guess," Ritka said, as there was no love lost between her and John Winchester, "So are ninety nine bottles of beer."

"No," Dean said shortly, and Ritka sighed, "We separated for a bit- I went to Oro Valley for a 'chapra and he went to Jericho for a haunting. I went with Sam last week, he wasn't there, ghost wasn't dusted and Sam's girlfriend- she's dead from the yellow-eyed bastard."

Ritka slumped back into her seat. She knew what he was going to ask. "Lemme guess," she said, "You want me to help you look."

"Please?" Dean asked. "I got a bag of halloween candy."

Ritka drained her coffee. She had a feeling that she'd need the caffeine. "I can't believe you're attempting to bribe me with _candy_."

"I'd bribe you with something else, but I have a feeling you wouldn't appreciate that." Dean said. "But I really do have a bag of halloween candy that I'll give you if you'll help me."

The thing was, Ritka was going to say yes even if he didn't have the candy. She'd go if he'd only texted her coordinates. "Are you still in California?"

"No, we're cutting through Tucson to Blackwater Ridge." Dean said.

Ritka groaned and rattled off where she was. "Could you meet me here?"

There was a long pause. "Yeah, sure. Are you going to need a ride?"

Ritka looked at the piece of shit car that she was currently driving, and had serious doubts that it would last to the interstate, much less the borders of Colorado. "If you'd be so kind. I don't think the car I'm driving would make it. How long till you get here?"

"Twenty minutes," Dean said, and she could hear Sam asking something in the background, "depending on traffic."

That would give her enough time to get her stuff from the car and another overly expensive coffee. "Perfect," she said. "Hope you won't mind me sleeping in the car." She hung up before he could say anything.

The teenager working the counter gave her a knowing look as Ritka walked in, and said "Boyfriend trouble?"

"No," Ritka fairly snarled, "I want one of those pumpkin spice things."

The teenager- her tag read Mia- just nodded knowingly and bustled off to make the coffee. Ritka checked her watch, and looked out the window. Dean's mammoth of a car wasn't in the lot. Ritka absently handed over the correct amount of money for the drink. She then stuffed a five dollar bill in the empty tip jar, well remembering her days as a waitress.

"You should kiss and make up," Mia said sagely. Ritka glared at her. Mia's eyes were a rich honey-brown, and seemed far more amused than she should be.

"Kid," Ritka said, swirling the coffee around, "Sometimes, that's impossible."

The impala pulled into the lot. Ritka walked out of the shop and towards the opening impala's door, as Dean stepped out. "Lemme guess," He said as a greeting, "Your car is the blue one." Sam was sleeping in the front.

The aforementioned blue car had more dents than it had body, and looked as frail as a card house. It couldn't go twenty miles without needing to be topped up, and had an oil leak that no shop could fix. The interior was sparkingly clean, and had no items or trash in it. It was, as Dean had pegged, Ritka's current car. Ritka shrugged, and popped the trunk. There were two duffel bags, which contained everything of hers, and she grabbed one while Dean snagged the other. After looking around, Dean popped the impala's trunk, and slung the duffels on top of the weapons.

"We have to make a drop at Phoenix." Dean said.

Ritka was exhausted and not in the mood to argue. "Fine." She said. She slipped into the back seat, coffee clutched tightly in one hand. "We'll have to stop somewhere to change my bandages." She told him, taking a long swallow of her coffee.

"Can I try some?" Dean asked, gesturing towards the coffee. "And where's your ouchie?"

Ritka passed him the coffee and pulled up the flannel sleeve. "Chupacabra." She said. "Must be breeding season or something."

Sam had woken up, and was watching her drowsily. "Hey Ritka," he slurred.

"Hi Sam," Ritka said, and watched with no small amount of amusement as Sam went back to sleep.

Dean sipped at the coffee and made a surprised face. "It got the jump on _you_?" He said, disbelieving. He took a bigger sip of the drink. "Can I have this?"

"Go ahead," Ritka said, tugging the flannel down to cover the bite. "And it did, so can we get going? I'm tired, Dean, and I don't want to put up with your shit."

Dean started the car. Ritka could see the teenager watching with avid interest from the window. She buckled up as Dean roared out of the parking lot, and fell asleep on the window.

Mia, once the impala had vanished from her sightline, snapped her fingers. Ritka's car disappeared. She then vanished, leaving the cafe empty as an employee who had previously been on break walked back in. The employee spotted a candy wrapper and trashed it, smiling at the customer that walked in.


	2. Chapter 2

**CHAPTER TWO**

 _Exorcizamus te, omnis immundus spiritus,_

 _omnis satanica potestas, omnis incursio infernalis adversarii,_

 _omnis legio, omnis congregatio et secta diabolica._

 _Ergo, draco maledicte._

 _Ecclesiam tuam securi tibi facias libertate servire,_

 _te rogamus, audi nos._

Exorcism

* * *

 **November 9th, 2005**

 **Blackwater Ridge, Colorado**

Ritka poked around the novelty tee shirt area, as Sam and Dean immediately headed towards the back. Finding nothing of interest, she turned towards the books. Most of the books were for camping, or children's wildlife books. One book immediately caught her interest, lonely and nearly covered by a brightly-colored children's book.

 _Dangerous Spirits: Windigo in Myth and History_

Ritka flipped towards the front page, ignoring the forward. She startled when someone touched her. "Finding everything alright, ma'am?" It was the store's employee, a man in his early thirties with light brown eyes. "Oh, I'd been looking for that," he gestured towards the book in her hands, 'It's the last one in the store- I was supposed to get rid of it."

"How much?" Ritka asked, snapping the book closed.

"For that piece of junk?" The man asked, "You can have it for free."

Ritka was suspicious, but Dean called her over before she could question it. She stuffed the book in her bag, and went over to him. Behind her, the employee popped a stick of gum into his mouth and wandered over the cash register, where he amused himself by pushing random buttons.

"This is my girlfriend, Riley Anders." Dean said, wrapping an arm around her waist. She resisted the urge to elbow him and smiled at the Ranger. 'We're college students."

"Bull," The ranger said with a scowl, "You're here for that Haley girl, aren't you?"

"Yes," Dean said immediately while Sam's and Ritka's smiles dropped. "Yes we are Ranger," Dean checked the ranger's name tag, "Wilkinson."

"Well I will tell you exactly what we told her," The ranger said oblivious to the amount of bullshit of Dean was spewing, "Her brother filled out a backcountry permit saying he wouldn't be back from Blackwater until the twenty-fourth so it's not exactly a missing persons now, is it?"

"Well sir," Ritka said, while Dean shook his head and Sam started to pay more attention to the 3D map, "You know how Haley gets about her brother."

The ranger looked unimpressed. "You tell that girl to quite worrying, ma'am. I'm _positive_ her brother is just fine." Ritka smiled sweetly and said nothing.

"We will." Dean said, "Well that Haley girl is quite the pistol, huh?" His grip tightened on Ritka, almost possessive. She was tempted to elbow him right underneath the ribs to get him to let go. Dean didn't get to _do_ that anymore.

"That is putting it mildly." The ranger said. Sam was watching her now, confused at the level of hostility she was barely reigning in. She glared at him until Sam broke eye contact. She immediately felt guilty. She was pissed at _Dean_ not _Sam_. She didn't need to take it out on him.

Dean shifted, "Actually you know what would help is if I could show her a copy of that backcountry permit. You know, so she could see her brother's return date."

The ranger considered. Ritka didn't like the way he was looking at her.

"Sure," The ranger said.

When Ritka received the permit, the ranger's phone number was scrawled on the back. She passed it to Dean and exited the building. when he reached for it, and then paused. _Fuck._

Dean flipped to the back, and paused. "Wow, Ritz, I didn't know you had a thing for older men."

"You should," Ritka snapped back, ripping it out of his hands, "You're two years older than me."

Sam coughed something that sounded like "one and a half" but she elbowed him before he could repeat himself. Sam elbowed her back. "Are you cruising for a hookup, Dean?" He asked.

"Dude, no." Dean said. "What do you mean by that, anyway?"

"The coordinates point to Blackwater Ridge, so what are we waiting for?" Sam demanded, "Let's just go find Dad. I mean, why even talk to the girl?"

"Well gee Sam," Ritka cut in just as Dean was opening his mouth, "It's like we know exactly what we're walking into. What do you think got that guy? Black dog? Think he walked into a faerie circle? We don't know." Dean was examining the map again, most likely memorizing the address. "I'm not going into those fucking woods until I have an idea what the fuck is going on."

"Since when are you shoot first ask questions later, anyway?" Dean asked. He nudged Ritka, and had to jump out of the way of a return elbow.

"Since now," Sam said darkly. He opened the car door and got in.

"Emo," Ritka muttered.

"Look," Dean said, "Ritka, I'm sorry."

"Dude," She said, and Dean wasn't what the look that she leveled at him meant, "I know. I _know_. I'm here, aren't I?" She got into the car and said something to Sam that had him laughing, and Dean looked at them for a long moment before climbing into the driver's seat.

The Collins house was in a nice neighborhood. Ritka, in her stolen leather jacket and plaid, felt underdressed. Dean was trying to figure out when she'd stolen his red leather jacket, and Sam was the one to actually knock on the door when Dean finally demanded how she'd gotten it out of his bag.

"Uh, hello?" Haley said.

"Hi," Sam said as Ritka and Dean quit arguing, "We're rangers from the park service? I'm Sam, that's Dean, and that's Ritka." He smiled, while Dean and Ritka continued to eye each other. "Ranger Wilkinson sent us over."

Hayley hesitated. "Can I see some ID?" Sam pulls out his ID and shows her. "Come on in," she said, and opened the door wider. She caught sight of the car. "That yours?"

"Yeah," Dean said, proud.

"Nice car," Hayley said. Dean beamed.

She lead them to the kitchen, where a teenager was doing something on the laptop. Dean mouthed something to Sam- she didn't catch whatever it was- and Sam rolled his eyes. The house was heavily subdued. "So if Tommy's not due back for a while," Sam said, "how do you know something's wrong?"

Hayley went into the kitchen and returned to place a bowl of food on the table. "He checks in every day by cell. He emails, photos, stupid little videos- we haven't heard anything in three days now."

"Did he ever mention anything weird?" Ritka asked, "Howling, a dog following them around, strange lights?"

"No," Hayley said, giving her an odd look. Ritka smiled reassuringly.

"Could he have forgotten to check in?" Dean asked.

"He wouldn't do that," the teenager said. Dean eyed the teen before the teen looked away. Hayley put more food on the table. Sam asked to see pictures, and Ritka sat in front of the teen.

"I'm Ritka," Ritka said to the teenager.

"Ben," the teenager mumbled.

"Is there anything interesting about those woods?" Ritka asked. Ben looked at her, making eye contact, "Me and my partners just transferred here from Cali."

"Um," Ben said, "There was a lot of grizzly attacks in 1982. Everyone was really scared, and the wildlife services combed those woods for _days_ but they didn't find the bear. There was one survivor- a guy that swore up and down that the bear got into his _locked_ cabin and killed his parents. Before that, there was even more in '59 and '36. We have a lot of killer grizzlies here."

"Really?" Ritka said, "That must be why they transferred us over."

Something was niggling in the back of her mind- a burst of attacks on hikers, and then a really long time before the next round. Something to do with cannibalism…

"Ritka," Sam said, and they were leaving. She thanked Ben, and followed them out the door.

"What you get out of the kid?" Sam asked, leaning against the door. Dean glared at him- Sam hurriedly got off it.

"There was a shitload of bear attacks about twenty years ago- in '82. Before that, '59. And before that- '36. All of them were killer grizzlies. There was only one survivor ever- a man that swore up and down that the bear unlocked and opened the front door." She said. "Guys, I think this is something that hibernates- holy _shit_." Ritka opened the back door and grabbed her bag while the Winchesters watched her confusedly.

"What, you need a tampon?" Dean cracked and Ritka threw one at his face.

She gave a triumphant shout when she dug out the book. "It's a _wendigo_. Man, I hunted one of these with Turner five years ago, it was a bitch and a half to take down."

Dean threw the tampon at Sam, who caught it and put it back in her bag. "Are you sure?"

"Yeah," Ritka said, "The pattern fits- burst of hiker attacks, bodies never found, repeats after a more than a decade. You wanna go to that survivor's house and make sure?"

` "Yeah," Sam said.

"Well you two do that," Ritka said, "I'm going to a hunting store and getting flares."

"Alright," Dean said. "We'll drop you off and meet you in the motel?"

"Yeah," Ritka said, "But I'm telling you, it's a wendigo."

They got into the car. Ritka flipped through the pages of the book the clerk had given her, uneasy. It had to be a coincidence.


	3. Chapter 3

**CHAPTER THREE**

 _Hail Mary, full of grace_

 _Our Lord is with thee._

 _Blessed art thou among women,_

 _and blessed is the fruit of thy womb,_

 _Jesus._

 _Holy Mary, Mother of God,_

 _Pray for us sinners_

 _Now and at the hour of our death._

 _Amen._

-Hail Mary

 **November 9th, 2005**

 **Blackwater Ridge, Colorado**

Ritka watched the impala peel out of the parking lot, before going into the store itself. It was warm, and the only person in the store aside from herself was a teenager browsing the backpacks. He was sucking on a lollipop, twirling the stick around in his mouth. She headed towards the employee, unwilling to spend the time looking for where the flares were. They happened to be behind the cashier, and he sullenly started to ring them up.

Ritka was bored, frankly. And she wasn't looking forward to hunting down the wendigo. Last time had ended with Turner with twelve stitches and her with a grade-two concussion. They were lucky it wasn't worse.

"Hey lady," The cashier snapped. Ritka startled, and saw that he had finished ringing up the flares. She swiped her credit card. She'd have to toss this one after she got something to eat.

The teenager held the door open for her on her way out.

Ritka got to the motel before the Winchesters did, unlocking her motel door and throwing her purchases on the bed. She threw herself down next to them, ready to catch a nap. She swore when the bandages shifted, and pushed herself up to change them. She swore again when she put weight on the bite, nearly collapsing before forcing herself to sit up. "I'm so smart," she said to the empty room. She lumbered to the bathroom, running the tap and watched as it spat out brown water before running crystal clear.

As she was wrapping up the fresh bandage on her arm, she heard a car door slam. She moved to the window and opened the blinds, spotting the Impala immediately. The trunk was open, and she could see two shadows moving around. She grabbed her pistol, tucking it behind her waistband and tugging her shirt over it before opening the door. She then took a quick step back to grab the flares, cursing her forgetfulness.

"-go out there," Sam was saying as Ritka approached. Dean huffed and turned, spotting her almost instantly but ignoring her in favor of his brother.

"Oh yeah?" Dean said mockingly, and Ritka had a feeling she had chosen the wrong time to walk out of her room, "What are we going to tell her? That she can't go into the woods because of a big scary monster?" He nodded at Ritka, "Hey."

Sam turned, glancing at her before snapping out a "Yes."

Ritka snorted, tossing the flares to Dean, who put them in the bag. "I'm going to bed," Ritka said, and Sam and Dean stopped their glaring to listen, "Wake me up if you need anything." They nodded, Dean eyeing Sam like he wanted to start something.

When she unlocked her door, she could hear the argument start back up. She sighed, and stepped inside, locking the door. She unholstered the pistol, shucked off her pants and collapsed onto the bed.

 _Thousands of tiny spiders crawling out of the man's eyes…_

 _...a witch's cruel smile sharp as the knife she was holding…_

 _A sharp stabbing pain, dragging along her left side…_

" _You're gonna get someone killed!"_

Ritka startled awake, sun shining directly into her eyes. She'd forgotten to close the blinds. She groaned, and adjusted the alarm clock until she could see the time- 5 AM. She dragged herself upright and stumbled into the bathroom to take a shower. Fifteen minutes later, she emerged, and paused, before grinning wildly.

The knocking woke up Sam at five-thirty in the morning, and as usual Dean didn't stir. Sam rolled his eyes, stumbled out of the bed that was too small for him, and opened the door. Ritka was on the other side, a considering look on her face and wearing what could generously be called a tank top. "Do my boobs look good?"

Sam opens his mouth. Closes it. "What?"

"Dean always thinks my boobs look good," Ritka said, dismissing his unasked question, "I need an unbiased opinion. My boobs, good or no?"

Sam stared at her for a good thirty seconds before slamming the door in her face and making for the coffee machine. He could hear her wild laughter through the too-thin door, and Sam decided he'd better just drink the whole pot.

It occurred to him at his second cup of coffee, that this had a distinct echo of what she had pulled to start the great prank war of '98, and he prayed that this wasn't an omen of what was to come.

At seven, after Sam had yanked the covers off Dean and both of them had taken a shower, they found Ritka sitting on the Impala's trunk, idly reading a book. There was a backpack next to her, and clothes that were much more suited to hiking. She spotted them, and shut the book. "Good morning," she said cheerfully.

"Morning," Dean said cheerfully. Ritka nodded at him cordially and outright smirked at Sam. "To the woods?" Dean asked, oblivious to Sam's increasingly narrowed eyes and Ritka's growing smirk.

"Bitch," Sam mouthed over Dean's head.

Ritka's smile grew wider and she started snickering. Sam rolled his eyes as Ritka scooped up the book and the backpack, and got into the back seat. "Dude," Dean said, "What'd I miss?"

"I drank the entire pot of coffee," Sam said cheerfully, and got into the passenger's seat.

It was five minutes later when the reached the forest, and there was already two cars parked. "Shit," Ritka said, and Dean got out of the car.

Sam followed him out and Ritka was a beat behind them, scooping up her bag, "Hey," Dean said, giving a dazzling smile at the man, then another to Haley, "Got room for three more?"

"Wait," Haley said, hesitant and confused, "You want to come with us?"

Ritka slapped at Dean's stomach, as Sam shouldered past everyone, "He needs to work off those burgers," she said cheerfully, and followed after Sam. "Dude, wait up, I don't have Sasquatch legs!"

"That was mean," Sam said after a moment.

"If he doesn't get their phone number by the end of this," Ritka said, glancing back at Dean, "I will be very surprised."

Sam turned around, wanting to see what his brother was doing. Dean passed him after a short remark to the man- Ritka still didn't know his name- and the group set off into the ominous woods.

They were making really good time, Ritka thought, listening to the sounds of the wildlife. Dean was hanging around the back, harassing Roy, and Hayley was hanging around them as well.

Roy soon passed Ritka, and she slowed her pace to match his. He stopped after a moment, taking out his GPS. "This is it," he said, checking the coordinates, "Blackwater Ridge."

Sam moved past Roy and stopped. "What coordinates are we at?" He asked.

Roy checked the GPS again. "Thirty-five and minus one-eleven."

Ritka and Dean moved to stand next to Sam, listening. "You hear that?" Dean asked.

"Yeah," Sam said, "Not even crickets." All three of them were tense.

"We are officially at Ground Zero," Ritka said. She swallowed. "Fuck," she said, and started to move forward as Sam and Dean argued with Roy for a brief moment before following after her. If it was possible, the forest got even quieter as they proceeded, and the hair on the back of her neck stood up.

Roy had branched off from them, and suddenly shouted, "Hayley! Over here!" and Hayley ran towards Roy, followed closely by everyone else.

"Looks like a slasher flick," Ritka muttered as she took in the scene. The tents were torn open, and blood crusted the dirt. Supplies were broken up and scattered, and the faint smell of rot from the open cans of food overwhelmed her nose.

"Looks like a grizzly." Roy said.

Ritka said nothing. She was pretty sure grizzlies didn't cart away bodies.

"Tommy." Hayley said suddenly, and Sam's eyes went wide as he realized what she was planning to do, "Tommy!" she yelled, and Sam tried to shush her, "Tommy!" she yelled again. "Why?" She demanded, quite loudly, to Sam's repeated attempts to shut her up.

"I fucking told you," Ritka hissed to Dean. Dean pursed his lips together and nodded. "Way out west though, I'll give you that."

"You got the flares right?" Dean asked Ritka, before raising his voice so Hayley could hear, "He could still be alive."

Hayley gave him a filthy look. Ben gave him a dirty look as well, following his sister as they started to poke through the campsite.

"HELP! Help!" Someone screamed suddenly, and Ritka darted towards the shouter, following the much faster Roy. Her backpack bounced uncomfortably on her shoulders, ""Help, someone!" She careened to a halt at the area where the shout originated, almost falling flat on her face. Dean, steps behind her, grabbed her backpack and yanked her upright before her face could hit the floor. Nobody was there.

"It seemed like it was coming around here, didn't it?" Hayley said, hesitant. Everyone else was silent, listening.

"Everyone back to camp," Sam said, sharp and Ritka nodded tightly. When they got back to the campsite, all of the supplies were missing.

"Our packs!" Hayley said, loud and upset.

"So much for my GPS and satellite phone." Roy said. He sounded disgusted. Ritka absently wondered whether or not this had happened to him before.

"What the hell is going on?" Hayley demanded.

Ritka shoved Sam towards Dean with a pointed look, and Sam nodded. The two Winchesters walked a little ways out of the campsite, where they couldn't be as easily overheard. "Whatever it is," Ritka said, "It's smart. Probably wants to start a slasher flick."

"You mean some nutjob out there just stole all of our gear." Roy said, flat.

"I like you," Ritka said. "But yeah, I think so. We can't call for help."

Sam approached the group. "All right, listen up," Sam said, "It's time to go. Things have gotten...more complicated."

"What?" Hayley demanded.

"Kid don't worry," Roy said, patronizing, "Whatever's out there, I think I can handle it."

Ritka tuned the rest of the argument out. She was trying to recall the map of the area, and where the wendigo could have made its den.

"Ritka," Dean said, and she tossed him her backpack. He took out a flare, tucked it into the small of his back, and tossed the bag to Sam, who did the same thing. Sam handed the bag off to Ritka.

Ben and Sam started to collect firewood, and Ritka went over to Dean. "This isn't a good idea." She told him.

"It's either staying here or trooping back through the woods at night." Dean said, "And we can protect ourselves better here."

The night was long and terrible. Roy had rushed off and Dean and Sam had followed him while Ritka had stayed behind with Ben and Hayley. Then, morning had come with a lack of any caffeinated beverage, and they found Roy's body.

And now, Ritka was fucking pissed.

Dean the _idiot_ and Hayley had gotten themselves fucking caught by the fucking thing, and the wendigo had startled her into a ditch. She had rolled into a rock, and she was fairly certain she'd reopened the chupacabra bite on her arm. Ritka quickly rewrapped it, and found Sam and Ben in short order.

"You look like shit." Sam told her.

"Thanks," she said, dry. "Where's Dean?"

Sam's lack of an answer was answer enough. She swore viciously, startling Ben, kicking at a rock.

Ben wandered a short distance, squatting next to a brightly colored candy. "They went this way," he said, indicating the m&m's.

Sam laughed. Ritka didn't. "It's better than breadcrumbs."

They follow the trail.

It lead to a mine, damp and cool. Sam slapped a hand over Ben's mouth when they heard growling in the tunnel, and Ritka prayed that the wendigo couldn't smell the blood leaking from her arm. Just in case, she palmed the flare. Sam, watching her, did the same.

The growling grew louder. Ben pressed himself harder against the wall, his eyes wide and white. She could hear footsteps.

"It's coming this way." Sam said, nearly inaudible. "Fuck."

It rounded the corner. It was bald, and vaguely human-shaped, and it's head was tilted up into the air. It could smell the blood. It snarled, loud, and the sound echoed through the passage. "Sam!" Ritka said, and Sam shoved Ben behind him.

It _screamed._ It lunged.

Ritka fired her flare. Sam fired his.

It lit up like the fourth of July, still screaming inhumanly. They started running, towards the entrance, so the wendigo, turning into dust, hit the ground where Ritka had been standing. It died there, exploding into dust.

"We gotta find Dean." Sam said, after a long moment.

"Yeah," Ritka said. "He'll never believe that we both hit the bastard at the same time." She offered a hand for a high five. It took Sam a depressingly long time to give her one. After a moment, she offered the hand to Ben. "For you know," she said, "Not screaming." Ben gave her a high five faster than Sam did.

"Dean!" Sam yelled, moving around Ritka. "Dean!"

Ritka added her voice to his, switching the empty flare gun for a pistol. Ben started when they came across the skulls, and then bolted as soon as he caught a flash of dark hair. Sam was right behind him, and cut down a cussing Dean without so much as a "how do you do."

Ritka cut down Hayley, and then moved to check the third guy's- and she was going to presume that it was Tom- pulse. He groaned, and she cut him down and caught him as he sagged. "Oh my God" Hayley said, "Thank you!"

Ritka shot a smug grin at Dean, who had an arm slung over Sam's enormous shoulders and blood covering half his face. "You got it?" Dean asked.

"Of course we did," Ritka said, and slung Tommy's free arm around her shoulder and helped carry him out.

Ben was having a grand time describing the grizzly to the police and Sam was nodding along to every word. Hayley and Dean were quietly talking, and Ritka was hovering nervously around the impala.

"I hate camping." Dean said as Hayley and Ben clambered inside the ambulance.

"Me too," Sam said.

"Me three," Ritka said. Her arm hurt. She wanted an ibuprofen and at least eight hours of sleep.

"Sam," Dean said after a moment, "You know we're gonna find Dad, right?"

"Yeah I know. But in the meantime? I'm driving." Dean tossed Sam the keys, and Ritka got into the backseat. They slammed the car doors shut almost in unison.

Sam put on Rush, started the car, and drove off into the night.


End file.
